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Methow Valley News November 25, 1999 Endangered Species Coverage A whopper meeting on fish and water MOA comments are decidedly negative by Lee Hicks Only a few dozen people remained seated out of more than 400 who packed one of the largest public meetings in Methow Valley history. Two hours into the session, Don Carlson had stepped to the microphone and asked those against the proposed fish and water agreement for the basin to get to their feet. The concise question resulted in a prompt reaction that appeared to reflect the majority opinion of the crowd at the Methow Valley Community Center gymnasium last Wednesday (Nov. 17) Most were Valley residents, but they also came from throughout the county to discuss the draft memorandum of agreement face-to-face with the county, state and federal officials who worked on it for more than six months. Many residents came to express anger and frustration over a process that they believe is being dictated to the county by federal and state agencies, and based on flawed assumptions rather than good scientific information. Statements by federal or state officials were often greeted with shouts of protest—as well as calmly reasoned arguments. Not one of more than a dozen people who took the microphone spoke directly for the agreement. Winthrop resident Val Sukovaty distilled the issue quickly by questioning the concept of streamflows and the nature of the MOA effort. "We don’t have science here. This thing is put together backwards. It’s not that we don’t care. It’s that the process has been handled so badly." Sukovaty also said the agreement needed provisions for more local involvement, perhaps by placing two Valley residents on the implementation committee rather than only one county representative as now proposed. "I hope you don’t feel that because we’re so very, very upset (that) we wouldn’t work to help the fish," she concluded. On the panel presenting the agreement were officials of the National Marine Fisheries Service, state departments of Fish and Wildlife and Ecology and US Fish and Wildlife Service. Okanogan county commission chairman Dave Schulz of Twisp and outside counsel Galen Schuler represented the county. State Ecology director Tom Fitzsimmons, whose agency manages state water law, laid out the premise of the MOA, including the voluntary conservation plan that would allow participants to contribute a "proportionate share" of water rights to theoretically improve streamflows. "When there’s a problem the right thing to do is to contribute your fair share. There is a problem. It’s not fully defined...there is not enough water in the stream at certain times," Fitzsimmons said. "No..." came a reply from the audience. "Well that’s a debatable point but we’re starting from the assumption that there is and in the short term..the right thing to do..is to let people make sure their water use is efficient...and ... to contribute a fair share in a short period of time while the real problem gets defined and the long-term solution gets defined.." Some speakers acknowledged efforts of county officials to work with the other agencies. "I want to thank the commissioners for doing the best job they can with agencies we don’t trust," said Gary Erickson, but quickly added: "I want to know exactly what will happen if we don’t sign this agreement," Erickson asked. The answer fell to Fitzsimmons, who said the state Attorney General’s office had given his agency "clear legal advice ... of (what) the state with its role in managing water is under obligation to do." Possible actions could include a continued ban on new water appropriations in the basin, as well as holding up applications for changes or transfers of water rights, Fitzsimmons said. "I’m not confident we could do that (changes or transfers) without further risking or violating federal law." He also said there is a question of whether the department could allow new "exempt wells," citing the possibility that the action "could contribute to ‘take’" under the Endangered Species Act." "The consequence is the gridlock gets even tighter without the MOA." Fitzsimmons also raised the possibility of adjudication of basin water rights, noting the Yakima basin has experienced, "17 years of that kind of gridlock." "I’m not going to stand here and threaten you that I’m going to do that. But I’m saying it is highly likely that will happen." Several speakers challenged whether the "best science" required by the ESA had been applied to the MOA which is based on streamflow improvements. "One thing you’ve admitted here is that you don’t have complete science," observed Dick Ewing, a member of the county watershed planning unit. Ewing also said the federal agency should be required to complete an environmental impact statement, as would be necessary for a habitat conservation plan that is the long-term goal of the MOA. NMFS regional administrator William Stelle replied, "The point that we admit we don’t have perfect science is absolutely true..." But Stelle said the agency believes that, "flow data...should get better." with more information. NMFS state director Bob Turner defended the agency’s delays in issuing "biological opinions" for irrigation diversions on federal lands. Those diversions are subject to section 7 consultations by federal agencies under the ESA. He said new information provided by the irrigators was partly responsible for the holdup, adding that, "had we issued the biological opinions they would be worse than they are now." The final BOs have yet to be released, although sources say they are near completion. The agency issued draft biological opinions in July, following its warning to the Forest Service and irrigators in May that diversions would "jeopardize" endangered fish. Several of the ditches operated only a few weeks this summer, or not at all, resulting in substantial crop and property value losses and threatening operation of Sun Mountain Lodge, the Valley’s largest employer. Local fishing guide Ben Dennis, an officer of a 40-member flyfishing club, questioned the effect of lower Columbia river net fishing on fish stocks. "My question is what are we doing to get the gill nets off the river and work with the Indians—and I know they have their rights —to get the fish up the Columbia to here?" And, Dennis maintained, many years of hatchery supplements in the basin means there is no native wild Methow fish species. "Fish have been imported from all over to the Methow," he said. NMFS’ Stelle said his agency is considering all factors in a "4H" report that addresses harvest, hatcheries and hydroelectric (or dam) influences—as well as habitat as in the Methow Valley. At one point Stelle said that using eggs from hatchery fish is essential to building wild stocks. He also said a panel of scientists has determined that habitat improvement will accomplish more for fish recovery than altering dams. The studies show, "The biggest bang for the buck wasn’t taking out the dams...the scientific answer was you’re going to get a much bigger bang for the buck with habitat." That approach, however, is disputed by other studies. It also represents a shift in NMFS’ statements earlier this year saying that breaching of four Snake River dams would be the quickest way to aid recovery of lower Columbia River fish. Some reports say NMFS and other agencies have backed away from aggressively addressing dams because of intense political opposition, including that of Sen. Slade Gorton. County commissioners are planning another public meeting on the MOA that would be followed by a public hearing to decide on the agreement. However, due to the number of comments being received regarding the MOA, the commissioners have decided to delay further meetings until after the Christmas holidays. Planning unit research reveals DOE water record flaws by Lee Hicks Potentially critical information revealed at last week’s MOA meeting shows that poor state Department of Ecology records might result in substantial overestimates of water use in the Methow basin. If substantiated the data could influence the course of water planning and endangered fish recovery in the basin by contradicting contentions by some agencies that the basin may be "overallocated" under the 1977 2cfs (cubic foot per second) water rule. The proposed memorandum of agreement by the county, state and federal agencies assumes that stream flows may be too low to aid recovery of endangered fish. However, DOE and NMFS acknowledge that more data on flows and existing use of water is needed. The new information was revealed by county watershed planning unit member Ray Campbell in comments at the Nov. 17 meeting addressed to DOE director Tom Fitzsimmons. Campbell said the planning unit’s water budget committee, "has discovered that you have a doubling up of claims" in 128 pages of the DOE’s Yakima claims register. While not addressing the information directly, Fitzsimmons responded, "I agree wholeheartedly (that) the state has not done the job it should have done..." Research by the planning unit committee also indicates that 142 claims and 50 certificates were not in the register at that time of its research. In some cases there are triple claims on single parcels. How much water is actually used in the basin is important not only for short-term water planning, but to assumptions of future growth potential in view of the listings of endangered fish. In recent proposals for a new water rule in the basin, DOE has contended that water for growth must be created through changes in the use of existing rights, or conversion from seasonal irrigation to year-round use. That provision, however, will depend in large part on a winter mortality study by the state department of Fish and Wildlife as a benchmark for the feasibility of conversion. At this point any Fish and Wildlife study could be based on misleading information if the planning unit research is confirmed. DOE has not allowed new water appropriations in the basin for several years. It did allow, under an "emergency rule" in 1994, building of some group domestic, or community well systems. Domestic wells that pump up to 5,000 gallons per day without a permit are also allowed under state law. National Marine Fisheries Service, which listed spring Chinook and steelhead trout as endangered, is relying on DOE to inventory water use short of full scale adjudication of water rights. DOE’s work and that of the planning committee could affect the theoretical "science" on which NMFS wants to base efforts to increase flows in the basin for fish. Opinion | Sports |
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